Ticket-based services such as incident management and service requests continue to rank among the top-performing areas of satisfaction in IT service management (ITSM).
Meanwhile, the attitude of IT personnel has emerged as a crucial determinant in shaping end-users’ perception of IT services.
Positive interactions with IT staff correlate strongly with favorable experiences, highlighting the pivotal role of soft skills in fostering a positive IT culture.
These were among the key findings of the HappySignals Global IT Experience Benchmark Report, based on 1.86 million pieces of end-user feedback across 130 countries.
The data was collected in 2023 by customers that use the company’s IT Experience Management Platform.
Notably, satisfaction levels with laptops and computers have seen a significant surge, marking a notable increase of 10 points compared to the results from the full year of 2022.
An organization’s overall happiness with its IT experience is determined largely by IT support services, which wield the most significant positive influence over employees.
The report’s findings suggested organizations must navigate the delicate balance between resolving issues promptly and minimizing disruptions; each ticket reassignment precipitates a decline of over seven points in end-user happiness, accompanied by an average loss of 1 hour and 46 minutes of work time per reassignment.
This underscores the importance of efficient ticket routing and resolution processes to uphold end-user satisfaction.
Despite regional and sectoral variations, certain trends hold steadfast across the board. For instance, the preference for self-service portals among specific user profiles underscores the growing demand for autonomy and empowerment among end-users.
Report author Sakari Kyrö noted the four IT support profiles used in the report – doers, prioritizers, supported, and triers – have different expectations and preferences when they get IT support.
“Globally, the ‘doer’ profile, willing and able to handle his or her his own IT issues, is still the most common, but this is not the case everywhere,” he said. “One noteworthy observation is the abundance of doers in Europe compared to, for instance, Asia.
He explained this underscores the importance, particularly in global companies, of understanding how support like self-service can best be developed, or where service desk agent help is most appreciated.
“The implications of decisions around available support channels, automation rules and resource allocation can be substantial,” he said.
He added understanding what end-users prefer, how they behave, and what motivates them is essential for any IT development project.
“Even more important is using these as high-level drivers for your whole IT strategy and digital transformation initiatives,” Kyrö said. “That is why regional- or industry-specific differences could inform the need for localized approaches, rather than pursuing a single approach across the globe.”
He explained IT leaders must understand the overall employee experience to effectively allocate resources to areas that truly impact employees, as the specific areas where experience falls short and causes inefficiencies vary depending on each company’s unique services and tools.
“Focusing on improving employee experience can help IT leaders address the issue of ‘watermelon’ metrics,” he said.
These metrics can show that traditional SLAs might seem good, but employees might still have a bad experience, leading to a poor reputation for IT.
“It’s important for companies to realize that while the average time spent on each ticket is more than three hours, this isn’t typical,” he said. “Most tickets are resolved quickly, and employees generally appreciate the service. However, when things go wrong, they can go very wrong.”
The report found that just 13% of all tickets are responsible for over 80% of the total time lost, as perceived by end-users.
“We urge service desk teams and IT leadership to reconsider how they prioritize tickets, identifying the small portion of issues that actually have the largest impact on the business,” Kyrö said.
He pointed out that using experience data as a key metric for IT service quality and value can be difficult at first for many IT service providers.
“Their existing business models, contracts and processes are often deeply rooted in traditional IT practices around SLAs,” he explained. “The path to really becoming excellent at experience management may not be easy, but it is worth pursuing.”
